Pat McCloskey, OFM

Q. Matthew 3:13-17 describes the baptism of Jesus, including John the Baptist’s objection that Jesus should be baptizing him. Why did Jesus want to be baptized, anyway?

A. This question was raised by Christians already in the first century, which is probably the reason that it is recorded here—unlike the baptism accounts in Mark 1:9-11 and Luke 3:21-22. John the Baptist had disciples and a very well-known ministry before Jesus had disciples or a public ministry.

I know that words often have a root meaning. For example, our word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacramentum, which I know St. Augustine described as “an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace.” In preparing for a seventh-grade religious education class about the paschal mystery, I would like to know where we get the word paschal.

According to a news article, Pope Francis recently acknowledged the Big Bang theory and evolution. I was quite startled by comments I’ve heard about this story. I hope you can enlighten me on this matter.